Thirty Two Years I'll Never Forget
By Joe Dambowy of North Branch, Minn.
I don’t recall the date the letter came, but I’m guessing it was in February of 1958. It didn’t say, “Dear Joe,” or “Dear Mr. Dambowy.” It started with, “Greetings, Uncle Sam is assigning you to active duty in the US Army.”
The letter said for me to report to the Federal Building in Minneapolis on 24 April 1958. My cousin, Frank Dambowy, also got the same letter, and we were both working at Swifts in South St. Paul at the time.
There wasn’t much preparation, except Frank had a motorcycle in South St. Paul, so one sun-shiny Saturday we took off heading north to his dad’s farm. We dressed as warm as we could, since March is still chilly in Minnesota. I drove my car, and we switched off about every 30 to 40 miles. When we got to St. Cloud, we stopped for a big bowl of hot soup. We were lucky the highways were ice free, but the last two miles to the farm were all ice, so I gave the steering wheel to Frank.
On April 24, 1958, we were at the Federal Building early in the morning. We started out with some testing (education, etc.), then a very complete physical, a bunch of shots, and finally an interview with an officer. I don’t recall what the interview was all about. In our group, there were 18 guys from all over Minnesota. The four from Morrison County were Frank, Bill Hayes (not my relative), another guy whose name I don’t remember, and me. We were given meal tickets for supper and told to be back by 6 p.m.
When we got back at 6 p.m. we formed up again, and I was told I would be the group leader because I got the highest test score. I was given a bunch of papers, a roster of 18 men, meal tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, and told I was in charge until we got to Ft. Carson, Colorado. The reward for being the leader, if you can call it a reward, was that I got a sleeper car, and the other 17 men got a coach car.
We started the trip to Minneapolis, stopped in St. Paul and a few other towns, and got to Kansas City in the morning, switched trains there, and got on another train to Denver, Colorado. The trip made me a little nervous because I didn’t want to lose anyone, but Frank said he would help me keep track. In Denver, we boarded a bus that took us to Ft. Carson.
It was late when we got to the Fort. They gave us bedding and showed us the Barack Building... That’s when the fun started!
Oh, some firsts: train ride, sleeper car, in charge of a group of people, away from my family and my finance.
The next day, the morning started at 5 a.m. – the sergeants had only one way of speaking... hollering! We were issued our clothing, backpacks, boots, rifle, shovel, etc.
Before all that, we were lined up and counted off – every fourth guy stepped back and were told to board a bus. Frank was a number four, so we parted ways. He ended up in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I didn’t think that Basic Training was so bad, once we got our regular drill instructions. Rifle range was fun, I scored the best in 500 yards, bullseye for yards is 12 inches. I got enough hits to score expert.
We did a lot of marching. Basic lasted about 10 weeks, so I was home for the 4th of July.
After a 10-day leave, I reported to Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana. This time, I got to take my car. I was in a postal class, which lasted 10 weeks, and I enjoyed the class very much – so much, in fact, that I aced the class of 38 guys! I took good notes in class and took them to Korea. Many years later when we did a two-week Summer Camp in Korea, the notebook was on a shelf in the stamp and parcel window.
At the end of our 10 weeks, we were asked to pick an Army area for our next assignment. The higher your grades were, the better your chance was to get your choice. I picked the 5th Army area, because Minnesota was in it. My second choice was 4th Army, and third choice was 6th Army, which was the coast, Alaska included, fourth choice was 7th Army, which was Europe, then the three Army areas on the East Coast. And, last choice was 8th Army, which was Korea... You’re right, that’s what I got! We got another 10-day leave, which was good, because I had to get the car back to Minnesota.
My next assignment was Ft. Lewis, Washington. There, we waited about 10 days until we got a full troop ship.
Oh! Another first: A plane ride from Indianapolis to Seattle, Washington. Spent most of our time there dodging the NCOS to get away from doing K.P., Guard Duty, etc.
Another first: A ship ride and being sick for three days straight.
We were in a storm that made waves at least 30 feet high. The mess hall had tables that were about four feet off the floor, no seats, we stood up to eat. Every time the ship rolled, our metal trays would slip down to the low end, and as it rolled back, we grabbed our trays and got a bite. I ate every meal, but then threw them up because I was so seasick... Mostly lived on soda crackers for three days. Once the storm ended, we had smooth sailing.
I was assigned to guard duty – it was four hours on duty and four hours off duty, so I slept at weird times. Our destination was South Korea, but we had 3,000 troops from a Missile Battalion on board that we had to drop off in Formosa, which was just off the coast of China. We spent two nights and a day there and then go to Korea. The Harbor at Incheon, Korea was so shallow we had to load onto a barge to take us to the dock. It took a couple days to get our Duty Station assignment, but I finally lucked out – I would be stationed in Yongsan, a suburb in Seoul, Korea – a peach of a station – movies, bowling alley, swimming pool. There were 30-35 guys in our Unit (19th APU), it was mostly a 24-hour workday but after I got my Stamp/parcel window, I would start at 9 a.m., one hour lunch, and close at 4 p.m., better than civilian life.
We had a house boy that made our beds, shined our shoes and boots, and swept the floor – they were paid about $6 per guy, per month – and a Mamasan that did the laundry and ironed our uniforms.
On weekends, I would go sightseeing with our houseboy. After the workday and supper, I would go to the gym with Howard Tanada, my best buddy there.
Most of our mail came from Gimpo Airport, but the bulky stuff came from a ship down at Pusan. Korean weather was like ours, so in winter the open cab on our semi-trailer was rather chilly. Most of our guys were from the South. Two of us were given a deal – do the mail run at 5 a.m. and get the rest of the day off.
Oh! That’s another first – I got a free trip to Korea.
In June of 1959, I took an R&R (rest & relaxing) trip to Tokyo, Japan – another first, a free trip to Japan. What a difference from Korea – the Korean War had been over for five years, but the country still hadn’t really recovered. There were still bombed-out buildings. Downtown Seoul had a few three-story buildings. Roads and streets were narrow with more bicycles than cars. Japan was neater and cleaner than the USA. Howard Tanada (Japanese) had relatives in Tokyo, so he took a week leave before our R&R, the I followed him around Tokyo – Sushi Bars with excellent sushi and other Japanese dishes. We rented a motorboat and toured Tokyo Harbor among many foreign ships.
Getting back to Korea, I had about two months left and I would be sailing back home. The year did seem to go fast. Little did I know I would be coming back to Korea – 13 times as a Reservist (more about that later).
One day, a guy came into the Post Office to buy some stamps. We were both surprised, as we were classmates in high school six years earlier. We went pheasant hunting out in the country, but no birds. There were five of us that were shipping home, we got a week off to get our gear turned in, paperwork in order, etc., and had some time to do some traveling and sightseeing.
We cleared our barracks and moved in temporarily near the harbor where a ship would pick us up. I didn’t really look forward to another boat ride on the ocean. I really lucked out though – I was assigned to take care of the Chief Petty Officer’s mess. I told one Chief that I got seasick coming over and wasn’t too thrilled – he gave me some pills, but I never used them. My duties were to keep the refrigerator stocked with milk, butter, sandwich meat, bread, and rolls in the morning. I had a separate room all by myself. I had to keep the area clean and free of cockroaches.
From Korea, we headed for Japan to fuel up. On the way, we sailed by Okinawa. It was the last Battle of WWII. There were sunken ships still in the waters. The War ended in 1945 and we passed by in 1959. While in Yokohama, Japan, one of the Chiefs asked if my folks would pick me up in Seattle, Washington. He offered to get plane tickets for me, so I gave him the money, and he got tickets for Northwest Airlines. Then he told me to get in the debarking line that had folks waiting; otherwise, I would have to go to Ft Lewis for de-briefing. Nice bunch of guys, those Chiefs, they helped me a lot. I think I was in South St Paul around 9 p.m. What a beautiful sight she was – my beautiful fiancé/now wife, Pat)!!!
I don’t recall how much leave I got, but my next duty station was Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri. No Jeep for transportation like in Korea, but I had my car again. I was assigned to the Post Locator. We tried to locate poorly addressed mail or help people that stopped looking for so and so. Good duty. Two other guys that were in Korea were also in the Locator. Just did my job waiting for April 23, 1960 – that was my discharge date. About two weeks until my wedding!! More on that later.
I thought I was done with Army life, but Uncle Sam had other plans. I served two years of Active Duty, then I had to serve for two years Active Reserve, followed with two years of Active Reserve. So shortly after our honeymoon, I got a letter to report to the Minneapolis Post Office at 7 p.m. for Reserve Training. At that time, the Unit was a BPO (Base Post Office), authorized strength was around 100 soldiers. Most of the guys were Postal employees. They were anxious to hear from me, as I was the first person in the Unit that had duty in Army Post Office (APO). They put me to work training, mostly mailing packages and selling money orders. We were Office heavy – one Captain, two Lieutenants and two Warrant Officers. Later, just one Captain and one Lieutenant.
Summer Camp 1961 for two weeks is a little foggy in memory… maybe Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin. In 1962, I didn’t go on the two-week camp because Mike was born, so I got off, but had to make up the time – spend two weeks in Buzza Building on Lake Street in Minneapolis, and don’t remember what I did exactly. The next three years on Summer Camp, we flew to New York City to do surveys on mail going to APOs in Europe. During that time, my active reserve time was over. However, because of the Cuban Missile crisis, they extended my time one more year. After the three trips to NYC for Summer Camp, we did two years to San Francisco and one year to Seattle, Washington. During this time, my six-year obligation to Uncle Sam had ended. I was promoted to staff Sgt – I liked the Unit, and we were having some good Summer Camps, so I kept re-uping. More than half of our people were Postal employees, so we scored high on our training. Some of our interesting camps: Ft Hood, Texas, we were housed in an ammunition cave out in the field. I got special recognition for getting the mail to the troops. Normally, helicopters flew the mail, but after three days of pea soup fog, I talked to the transportation Sgt from Michigan, and he agreed to deliver the mail. I tried to find the letter I got as Soldier of Summer Camp, but couldn’t find it. Another year we went to Fr. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis and a bunch of us did the teaching because of our experience. We did a camp in Korea, and it was in the same building that I worked at in 1958/59. This trip to Korea was as different as night and day. Everything was neat and clean. Many stores, hotels, big department stores, freeways, clover leafs, etc.
I made First Sgt in 1982. I made a bunch of solo trips to Korea in planning for Summer Camps. I shouldn’t brag, but we were requested to help during Christmas rush, that’s how good the Unit was. At one time, we had seven Postmasters in the Unit. It was the 329th AG Postal Company. The Commander and I made a trip to Germany to plan a camp trip there, but it never happened.
All good things must come to an end – I was discharged in April 1990, after serving 32 years that I will never forget!
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